Photos of garden porch

schoolhouse_gwDecember 5, 2013

Here it is. I'll do some tweaking of the top later when I decided what I want (would prefer wider, weathered boards). In the Summer and Fall it will be more secluded, hidden by patches of weeds and wild flowers.

My plan is to leave it as unadorned as possible, let it settle in with the nature down there. No paint. Except the ugly plastic tops and bottoms I had to buy for two of the columns as they had disappeared. I'll try to paint them grayish white and maybe rub some dirt stains on them (!) to give them that aged, repurposed look.

Limbs of dead and/or pruned trees will be laid around the top and over it as "lattice" , similar to twig projects I have done in the past. And I visualize a dome made the same way with an antique wooden finial on top. Ooooooo the possibilities! Did I mentioned I wanted it unadorned? :)

Oh my! That is just wonderful! I agree that you have placed it perfectly and I cannot wait to see it come spring and summer. Now, I am looking around our little half-acre wondering if there is any spot for a garden porch here, too. You and Mary Lu have inspired me...as usual.

Thank you very much. I appreciate comments from fellow gardeners, kindred spirits if I may say. I purposely wanted the floor close to the ground so that when you sit or stand there you are almost on the same plane as the flora.

As for Spring, I toyed with the idea of planting drifts of daffodils around it but didn't really know if that was the look I was going for. I already have some naturalized in the orchard and plant a number every year. I think I tucked in a couple bags of bulbs in some corners by the stone wall, but I do mow paths and areas near there too and if I would plant lots of bulbs I'd have to wait until late to mow the foliage off.

My tastes could change though, that's what a garden is all about after all.

I've had to replace the two columns on my front porch three times over the past 34yrs. The first two pair were wooden, this last pair I had put on are a resin material and should last awhile longer. I thought long and hard about the fake columns but once installed and painted they look great.

Unfortunately the older wooden pairs do not match exactly at the top. One pair has a more narrow band. And of course there was miscommunication on both the builder's and my part and opposites ended up front. :(

No paint or stain on the floor or the columns. I want the floor to weather to a grey patina and the columns to keep their chippy paint appearance. Except the new caps need painted as I mentioned above.

Thanks luckygal. Yes, believe it or not I mentioned that name "Garden Folly" to the workers as they were building it. I told them, "You know sometimes these structures are called "follies"". They just looked at me with half smiles like "Yep lady, that sounds about right". hee hee

The guy picked up his check yesterday and he suggested running cables corner to corner to stabilize it more. I haven't decided yet but I know it needs a tweak in that area. Cables? Maybe old rusty ones. :) No plants around it per se except something wild. We'll see.

One thing to consider for your roofing, is whether you want it waterproof. If so, you can sandwich transparent corrugated roofing material (Onduline is the brand I am familiar with, though there are probably others) between layers of branches or whatever roofing material you choose. My inlaws did that with a pergola and they can sit outside in anything from a light sprinkle to a downpour and stay dry. It also lowers maintenance on any furniture that's kept there since it doesn't get wet. It would need to be a slanted roof, however so that it can drain.

Original plans call for no solid roofing at this time. Interesting, I just got a copy of the winter issue of Cottage Journal and there is a photo of a wooden garden arch with limbs arranged ontop.

When I built my trellis house of branches, I did put on a solid roof (slanted) of plywood, then tar paper. It lasted many years.
It sat in the exact same spot as the new porch (or follie!). This is a pic before roses and silver lace vine smothered it.

What a pleasure to come across your pictures on a cold snowy evening! I can just imagine the many hours of pleasure you will have sitting out there. Now I am inspired to shake off the winter doldrums and focus on the next stage of my backyard project.

I rather like that they mismatched the pillars, Schoolhouse. It makes them seem more "found" if that makes sense. As for stabilizing the corners more, perhaps you could seek out some architectural corner pieces to use at the corners tying the pillars to the upper frame more? What ever you decide on in the end I'm sure it's going to be wonderful. I love all the views you'll have being able to simply turn your chair one direction or another and having a whole new view to look at. Brilliant!

And thanks, MeMo about the suggestion of the corner pieces. I was actually thinking about some cool architectural pieces as corner supports, but wondered how they would attach. So then decided perhaps I should go the traditional route for the top instead of using twig art. ha. Find some reclaimed lumber and make wider top boards of course and cross beams like a normal pergola top. This would spoil the aura of "found" (I like that!) however.

Nice to hear different suggestions. It will be fun to begin the treasure hunt for the corner pieces.Thanks again.

Thank you. Still wavering between "dressed up" or "leave to nature". Just this afternoon I weeded the old pink damask rose growing near it, the rose once covered a trellis house in the same spot. It's not my intent to let it cover the folly (porch), but we shall see.

Hi schoolhouse !
I was just thinking of your beautiful porch today and was wondering if you would care to post an updated picture or two of it ? Did you start working on the top yet? Will you have any seating ? It's so lovely and I can imagine with everything leafed out even lovelier .

Thank you lilyfinch. Well I went down and took two photos for you. As you see, not much progress on the top. I can not make up my mind. Plus I really need to get someone to put those corner pieces in to stabilize it. It will fall down before I get around to making a decision on the top. I assure you tho it's not swaying as much as the second pic makes it appears! lol

The old fashioned damask rose growing up front should be blooming soon. I didn't intend for tall plants around it but the shrub rose was already there, albeit amid weeds and brambles, from a previous trellis house; and I don't have the heart to take it out. It will get very large if left to its own devices. There is also wild phlox (Dames Rocket) there aplenty, and a honeysuckle vine (non-fragrant,orange)and a silver lace vine there from long ago too. Both see an opportunity and are thriving again just waiting to take over. yikes.

Just as I suspected! It's beautiful! :) I love the chair , very charming. Does the damask rose have nice fragrance ? I have alot of roses but none from that category ( yet ! ) . Thank you for updating us !

Yes, the pink damask has a wonderful fragrance. It came from the house where I grew up. We called it "the outhouse rose" because that's where it was planted many years before my parents lived there I'm sure. I brought pieces of it with me when I moved away. It's very hardy, grows like a weed most anywhere. At the end of its blooming season the leaves tend to get a little yellow and drop tho.

I thought there was also some Pink Dawn rose there, but I haven't seen that for some years. It used to cover the trellis house.

The tall weeds in the foreground are not close up and around the porch/folly. There is a stone path between them and the porch. However, there is the pink damask shrub rose up against the right side and also a sweet pea vine that grows along the ground and now wants to sprawl across the floor. In the background is multi-flora rose, and red non-fragrant honeysuckle for now. Later there will be silver lace vine blooming. Still no top! lol

Come Fall there will be even more going on down there what with wild flowers and weeds.(see pics posted Dec.7th in this thread)

The sweet peas were planted quite a few years ago by seed, they are a perennial sweet pea - no fragrance. I really don't know how they managed to come up year after year in a patch of tall weeds, roses, brambles, and Virginia Creeper. Now that they have some elbow room this year they are really thriving.